Review: Parched Earth Chronicles #1
"How many times do I have to tell you, boy? THE NIGHT BITES!"
Many years after the Third World War the planet is a wasteland with the few survivors living within walled cities. Monstrosities prowl the 'parched lands' outside... monstrosities that used to be people.
Writer/artist Oliver G. Francisco's Parched Earth Chronicles is an anthology of four stories set in this dark post-apocalypse. Each is illustrated in stark monochrome, predominantly black, each disturbing panel sculpted from hungry, devouring shadows. Figures are drawn with a loose, expressive energy, sometimes edging over into the comical, but all the more macabre for that.
In Journeymen an old veteran tells his grandson the story of how the world fell into nightmare and the danger of the horrors outside.
In Dreamer a man is seduced by a mysterious female figure who stalks his sleeping hours, calling him to follow her... but to where?
In The Runner by guest writer/artist Erik Guzman Pingol an athlete's dreams of gold elude him until an anonymous benefactor sends him a strange gift: an undetectable performance-enhancing drug that promises to deliver success.... but at what price?
In Missing a private detective is visited by a beautiful blonde searching for her husband who has disappeared. The man is chasing the possibility of immortality... somewhere out in the parched lands, where surely only death can be found.
The anthology format is not very often used in comics, though in general science fiction and horror literature it has a long and rich history. Here Francisco has begun a series with a framing narrative that incorporates distinct but related tales - some stand-alone, some to be continued - that explore the spine-chilling landscape drawn out in the disturbing premise.
The line between the genres of science fiction and horror is not merely blurred here, it is erased. They bleed into each other seamlessly on occasion, with notable precedents: Quatermass, Alien, Resident Evil... the cold calculations of science providing a supporting rationale for the abominations emerging from the deepest recesses of the subconscious. Like a perversion of rationality, the mind is betrayed by chilling suggestions of how such fiends might possibly exist...
In each story here there is a sense of dread, with the terrors lurking just out of sight, ready to reach out of the darkness at any moment and strike the unwary. This blends the predatory mutations of the post-nuclear apocalypse with a touch of the surreal alien demons of HP Lovecraft. The desolate shadows threaten not just your life, but also your sanity.
The hideous things out in the parched lands are getting stronger and smarter. It won't be long before they break through the walls; the walls of the cities, the walls of your mind, all barriers that separate security and reality from the wild, screaming chaos outside.
PARCHED EARTH CHRONICLES #1 on Amazon (Kindle edition)
The hideous things out in the parched lands are getting stronger and smarter. It won't be long before they break through the walls; the walls of the cities, the walls of your mind, all barriers that separate security and reality from the wild, screaming chaos outside.
PARCHED EARTH CHRONICLES #1 on Amazon (Kindle edition)
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Zak Webber
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